This Day in History

December 17, 1920

APL Co-Inventor Iverson Born

Kenneth E. Iverson is born in Camrose, Alberta, Canada. He received a BA in mathematics from Queen’s University in Ontario, and an MA and PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard. Iverson taught at Harvard and worked for IBM and IP Sharp Associates. With Adin D. Falkoff, he developed A Programming Language (APL). It was a triumphant start to his career, and for over 35 following years Iverson was able to transform his invention into a successful commercial enterprise. He received the AFIPS Harry Goode Award in 1975, ACM Turing Award in 1979, IEEE Computer Pioneer Award in 1982, and the National Medal of Technology in 1991.